On-line entertainment has been popular for several years. Typically, users connect to the Internet through their desktop computer and enjoy computer-hosted games ranging from simple board games, like backgammon, to more complex and graphic intensive adventure games. Recently, developments in technology have enabled users to engage in multi-player, interactive gaming sessions with other users at remote locations. The ability to play a game with friends, and even strangers, who are not similarly located creates an exciting outlet for gaming aficionados.
Although in its infancy, interactive gaming has become available to users over wireless networks. Using their mobile handset as a game controller, users play games with other players not in their area without being tied down to their desktop computer. The thrill of interactive gaming coupled with the convenience of being able to play anywhere through a mobile handset makes wireless interactive gaming a very exciting, and potentially profitable, opportunity for operators of wireless networks.
Interactive gaming over a wireless network, however, is not without disadvantages. Latency and data transmission delays create performance issues when gaming over any network, but are especially troublesome over wireless communication networks. Many known systems attempt to solve latency issues by offering only simplistic games with no or low quality graphics that are unaffected by communication delays. These systems, however, significantly depreciate the user's gaming experience. In addition, many known wireless interactive gaming systems are not truly interactive. Many systems fail to adapt the state of play of the game based on the skill of the players, features of the users' access devices, or the users' connections to the network, leaving some players at a significant disadvantage. Other known systems tax network capacity and waste network resources to such a degree that network operators must charge users prohibitively high service fees to avoid significant losses. Still other systems fail to mediate the environment on which the game is being played.
Others have attempted to provide multi-player, interactive gaming over a network. For example, Vange, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,898, discloses a computer-based interactive gaming system comprising a method for initiating and scaling a massive concurrent data transaction. Vange discloses a system and method for optimizing the transmission of computer-hosted game information over a telecommunications link, such as the Internet.
European Patent Application No. 00660124.9, filed by Nokia Corporation, discloses a method and apparatus for playing games between the clients of entities at different locations. Specifically, the Nokia application links multiple players together to a game server through a network using the user's mobile phones. The method involves connecting a plurality of mobile phones together to a game server through a network for playing the game. The game server is connected to the network. The game scenario is set up at the game server for each of the plurality of mobile phones. The game signals are transmitted between the mobile phones across the network via the game server.
European Patent Application No. 00660125.6, filed by Nokia Corporation, discloses a multi-player game system using a mobile telephone and game unit. The Nokia application discloses using a mobile phone to download a game to separate game units and linking the multiple users using a low power radio link.
European Patent Application No. 00660161.1 filed by Nokia Corporation discloses a system for profiling mobile station activity in a predictive command wireless game system. The application discloses a system and method for customizing an interactive, text-based game based on mobile station activity.
Although many of the prior known gaming systems claim to offer an enhanced, interactive gaming experience, none of the prior known systems of which the present inventors are aware offer a fully interactive real time gaming experience, with high resolution graphics, while efficiently using network resources, managing the game state for a level playing experience among users, and/or offering those services at a low, fixed, monthly service charge, that is not based on minutes of use, over a wireless network communications.
The present invention, in contrast, addresses the problem of how to deliver an enhanced, interactive game experience efficiently and cost effectively. In particular, the system and method of the present invention preferably offer a real-time, interactive experience and improve control of the transfer of game state information. In addition, the present invention preferably controls the game state for a level playing experience and controls delivery of the interactive application to the user to optimize the utilization of limited network bandwidth. This enables the operator to provide a more enhanced interactive gaming experience with the same amount of network resources. This also creates the possibility of providing a wireless game service to end users at a flat monthly rate, rather than on a “per unit of time” basis. In this regard, the pricing model of Assignee's Cricket™ wireless telecommunications services may preferably be adopted.